Business Ideas

Opening a Sushi Bar

Opening a sushi bar is a rewarding experience but it's important to plan out the business in detail before you start. We offer a friendly, comprehensive guide to develop the business successfully.

Wondering how to start a sushi bar? We take you step-by-step from start to success.(article continues below)

Tips for Creating a Great Sushi Bar Business Plan

A business plan is the skeletal framework for your sushi bar's mission, goals and strategic vision.

But from an outsider's perspective, your business plan is also a reality check. Third-party stakeholders want to make sure that the most important parts of your plan are based on real world information, including your business plan's market analysis section.

For the sake of accuracy, you'll want to educate yourself about how to write the market analysis section of a business plan. While a robust market analysis can be a selling point for a sushi bar startup, weak market research is a sure giveaway for a business that hasn't invested adequate effort in planning.

Review the Competition

Prior to launching a sushi bar in your area, it's worthwhile to find out how many competitors you have. We've provided the link below to help you generate a list of competitors near you. Complete the form by entering your city, state and zip code to get a list of sushi bars that are close by.

Is the local market large enough to support another sushi bar? If not, you had better be sure that you are doing things much better than the competition.

Talk to People Who Are Already in the Business

As part of your due diligence on opening a sushi bar, be sure to speak with somebody who is already in the business. If you think owners of nearby sushi bars will give you advice, think again. Why would they want to educate a future competitor?

However, a fellow entrepreneur who has started a sushi bar on the other side of the country can be a great learning resource for you, as long as they don't view you as a competitive threat. Indeed, many experienced entrepreneurs enjoy offering advice to startup entrepreneurs. If you are persistent, you can find a business mentor who is willing to help you out.

Where can an aspiring entrepreneur like you find a sushi bar founder in another community?

Here's how we would do it. Try the useful link below and key in a random city/state or zipcode.

Would-be sushi bar business owners can either launch a new business or acquire an existing operation.

Startup sushi bars can be attractive because they allow the entrepreneur to have more control and greater influence. But financially, startups present significant challenges because lenders are typically hesitant to fund startup sushi bars.

On the other hand, a sushi bar purchase is more attractive to lenders and investors. On the whole, buying a business minimizes uncertainty as well as many of the objections lenders use to disqualify startup entrepreneurs from financing.

Is Franchising the Right Option?

The odds of achieving your primary goal of thriving in your new business greatly improve if you decide to franchise and benefit from the prior work of others and their lessons learned.

Before you get too far along in your plan to open a sushi bar, it's worthwhile to assess whether purchasing a franchise might make sense for you.

The link below gives you access to our franchise directory so you can see if there's a franchise opportunity for you. You might even find something that points you in a completely different direction.